As recently as two years ago, conventional wisdom held that Hillary Clinton would sail into the White House not only for a third Obama term, but a restoration of the Clinton dynasty, without facing so much as a voice of dissent from within her own party.

Any candidate the Republican party dared to run against her would be a sacrificial lamb as she combined the Obama coalition with the lasting goodwill felt for her husband, even 16 years after he left office, and the historical imperative of becoming the first woman president.

The Democrat party acknowledged that Obama cut in line in 2008, so the phrase, “It’s her turn,” became the mantra of true believers.

Somewhere along the way, another unlikely upstart threatened to derail her plans and battling Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders diverted time, money and attention for almost a year before Clinton stood on the stage in Philadelphia and became the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major political party in United States history.

It should have been a magical moment for her, but instead, revelations involving corruption, greed, mismanagement of government documents, and abuse of power continue hover over her campaign.

She adopted a strategy familiar to football fans – running out the clock.

Clinton has not held a press conference in over 270 days and has limited appearances to fundraising galas with the rich and famous while another upstart – the brash Republican candidate trumps her by visiting flood-stricken Baton Rouge, inner city Detroit and a hostile Mexico City.

But now the plan to sit on her lead in the polls, counting the days to November 8 with her fingers crossed, may not be enough to protect her from a Congress that does not take kindly to being lied to – especially by a presidential candidate and most especially, under oath.

Congress takes itself seriously, enough so that it could haul Clinton in on perjury or contempt charges.

With the release of the FBI’s notes from its July 2 interview with Clinton about her use of an unauthorized private “home-brew” server to conduct the nation’s diplomatic business, Congress now has proof that she lied in her testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi last October.

The former Secretary and current candidate made numerous contradictory statements that could form the basis for charges, although it is likely that Democrats would argue that any such action would be part of the continuing “vast right-wing conspiracy” she claims has waged war against her for 25 years.

For a start, Congress may want to compare just a few of her statements.

“I thought it would be more convenient to use a single device…” She used 13 phones. And five iPads.

“It was approved…” It wasn’t.

“It was common knowledge at State that I used a private email…” Even Huma Abedin disagreed.

“I never sent or received any classified documents…” She did.

“I turned over all my emails…” Except the 17,000 the FBI found.

“My attorneys conducted a thorough review and were overly inclusive...” They didn’t. And they weren’t.

Tom Fitton, president of government group ‘Judicial Watch’ explains just how Clinton can be impeached now…

‘One of the dirty little secrets in Washington is that Mrs. Clinton can be impeached now,’ said Fitton in an interview. ‘A federal official leaving office does not end congressional jurisdiction over impeachment for misconduct in that office.
‘And if she was convicted by the Senate the sanction could be ineligibility for future office.’

There is nothing to prevent Congress from taking action even if Clinton is inaugurated in January. As Richard Nixon learned the hard way – even a landslide victory doesn’t protect the truth from coming out –eventually.